shoeflyer

Hi,

Am looking a RT ORD-FRA-ZWS; UA metal, connecting to DB train. Couple of questions:

1) Train to Stuttgart has an intermediate stop in Mannheim. If I want to go
to Mannheim/Heidelberg, is there anything keeping me from getting off
the train there and eating the last leg of the train ticket?

2) Would I be able to obtain my train ticket in Mannheim for return trip or
do I have to go down to Stuttgart to start?

3) Do either of the above bring into play the possibility of no-show and
cancellation of flight? I.e., are the flight and rail systems linked?

This can't be booked on .bomb and when I look at it on LH, it books into K class, so probably no mileage accrual.
So it may be a non-starter anyways, but I am intrigued by how the air & rail segments link. Thanks for any input.

afrozenfyre

1) No, assuming DB scans your ticket before you disembark
2) DB supports electronic tickets, and regardless you can pull up your itinerary/ticket on a kiosk at any time once it's in the DB system
3) As long as you validate the ticket, you should be fine. LH does have a pretty strong integration with DB, but I would only be worried about the return leg. If you want to play it safe, ZWS is only 45 minutes from Mannheim.

You can only book the rail tickets on 220 (LH) tickets so this is why it doesn't show up on ua.com. If you have an LH ticket to FRA, you can add on the ZWS segment directly though LH after ticketing. The advantage to this is that the rail ticket is linked to your LH ticket and valid for any train that day/direction (and a consistent 30 euros I believe, which is cheaper than a flexible DB ticket). Obviously this doesn't work if you are looking at a ZWS-specific fare though.

hindle

Be careful about your luggage. I've never done it, so hopefully an experienced person can chime in, but I believe they check your luggage all the way to Stuttgart.

djohannw

Nothing to worry about - luggage will be returned in the Airail-Terminal (within the long-distance train station) at Frankfurt airport, not the regular baggage claim. From there you have to carry that yourself or ask the porter-service to take it for you to the train and stow it there. If you do you will probably not get it out of the pile of bags on the train if you want to get off at Mannheim, though.

That said there is not much risk in getting off at Mannheim and getting on there again on the return as long as you check in online for all segments and have a printout of your boarding pass (Airail uses standard boarding passes and not the type of tickets DB normally has) when on the train.

Greetings - Dirk

FL390

It's been several years since my last LH to DB train connection. In Frankfurt my bags where delivered to the train station baggage claim to clear customs. I only found that out after waiting at the normal baggage carousal and then talking to an agent when they did not arrive.

jmanirish

Lufthansa message board is a much better place for this question since UA won't sell you the ticket and has nothing to do with the UA metal segments. In fact, there's already a thread (where there is first hand experience). Hope this helps.

LH flight operated by Deutsche Bahn